Why Vacation Photos Could Hurt Your Career

You've worked your butt off all year in this lean, mean,
recession-addled workplace.

You're pale, exhausted and even Red Bull doesn't perk you
up anymore.

You're all over the travel boards on Pinterest, chomping at
the bit to sink your toes into soft spun-sugary sand, hoist a
margarita, and leave your demanding bosses, and insane deadlines
far behind.

Yes, it's finally that time again. After one of the worst
winters in decades, the long-awaited Vacation Season is upon us.
Along with daylight savings comes Spring Break, Disneyworld,
family trips, and romantic treks. But before you smooth on that
sunscreen, you might consider today's new job etiquette before
you get burned — and not by the blazing sun.

The New Vacation Rules

By all means, vamoose to whatever vacation you need, want, and
deserve. But smart vacationers remember #FOMO (the
infamous Fear of Missing Out) and make every effort to avoid
stirring it up via social media. Regardless of the warmth of your
business relationships, no one who is frustrated and looking to
move a project forward, is going to relish discovering that
Instagram photo of the project manager parasailing in Mexico. Or
the obligatory bar scene. Or the top of the ruins somewhere in
Peru.

Aside from the old "gee, she's having fun and I'm not" side
of human nature, there's also the nasty thought that sometimes
bubbles up: "Am I paying her too much? That's quite the
boondoggle she can afford." Read some of the recent studies on
the depression caused or exacerbated by
social media, and remember that you're buddies with half of your
office on Facebook, Twitter or G+.

What to Do

Too bad social media doesn't have the famous OOF — Out of
the Office — that email does. So contact key people who don't
have access to your company calendar, announce that you're going
off the grid and will be officially unreachable from X to X.
Details of where you're going are unnecessary — only the
unavailable dates are relevant.

Then stay off any social media that's trackable to you.
Some paranoid (I think smart) people set up a new private
Twitter, OGGL or Path just for family and close friends. Don't
think Facebook's privacy settings are going to protect you. Or
even Snapchat. If you must communicate, use text or
WhatsApp.

The primary death knell to business connections is the
linchpin of the powerful Visual Revolution: big, juicy,
droolworthy photographs. The more visual, the more shareable.
That massive pin-worthy picture of you diving in Belize or Blue
Pearl Bay off Hayman Island in Australia, will draw more
comments, shares and likes than text. It's far more likely to be
the first thing your boss sees when she finally slogs it home
after a 12-hour day, soaking wet from the drizzle or humidity,
having only eaten some leftover 'Starch of the Day' from the
company cafeteria.